Rob Dougan - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Dougan was born in Sydney, Australia in 1969. In 1990, Rob Dougan's friend Rollo brought him from Australia to London. From 1991 to 1995, Dougan was a Producer and remix artist. In 1994 his remixes started charting in the UK. He also released his first single, "Hard Times".

In 1995, his hit single Clubbed to Death gave him a recognised name in the UK dance club scene. He produced half a dozen remixes of it, including the "Kurayamino Variation". His label Mo' Wax Records was pleased and commissioned the follow-up, "Clubbed to Death 2" (later the bonus track on the album). CTD2 was never released as a single, but appeared on the James Lavelle disc of the 1996 DJ mix compilation album, Cream Live 2.

"Furious Angels" was not released on Mo' Wax but Dougan eventually released it as a single in 1998 on Rollo's label Cheeky Records. Dougan worked for the following six years, doing remixes and licensing his tracks, in order to self-produce the album which was backed by a full orchestra and a full choir.

In 1999, his exposure increased dramatically when his "Clubbed To Death (Kurayamino Variation)" was featured on the soundtrack of The Matrix. He has also provided remixes of songs by U2, Moby and Kylie Minogue, and contributed two more tracks to the soundtrack of 2003's Matrix sequel The Matrix Reloaded, Château and Kung Fu (a shortened version of "Furious Angels" made for "The Matrix Reloaded"). The Matrix Reloaded DVD also includes the I'm Not Driving Anymore Instrumental soundtrack on the background movie.

In 2002 in the UK, and 2003 in the rest of the world, Dougan released his debut album Furious Angels to critical acclaim and some surprise from the new tone of his work, as well as from his own Leonard Cohen-esque gravel-voiced vocals. Later in 2003, a two-disc re-release of Furious Angels featured all-instrumental versions on the second disc.

In 2006, Dougan was reportedly writing "a couple of songs" for Sugababes (for whom he produced the single "Too Lost in You"), and working on two albums of his own — one original, one classical.

As of April 2008, Dougan is mentioned in a wine blog as an owner of a wine vineyard La Peira en Damaisela, leaving questions about the supposed two albums he had been working on.

A short film made for jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Partridge, "The Letter", directed by Laurence Dunmore and starring Thandie Newton and Jason Isaacs features new music by Rob Dougan; the short film, however, does not mention the title of the song.